Episodes
Sunday May 05, 2019
Finishing the Climb
Sunday May 05, 2019
Sunday May 05, 2019
If you have ever gone hiking, you know how hard that first climb can be. I remember hiking the White Mountains in New Hampshire. The challenge was always looking up and seeing what looked like the peak. With that in view, regardless of how far it seemed, as long as you knew that was the end point, you could keep going. But the greatest obstacle was once you reached the peak, you suddenly realize that it wasn’t the peak at all. Instead, it was the fold of the terrain and the real peak was still not in view. That false sense of finish can keep a hiker from finishing the climb.
In the same way, the last chapter of Nehemiah reveals obstacles that the Israelites faced as they pressed on in their own climb. They are 1) Moments, 2) Pragmatism, 3) Unbelief, and 4) Conformity. And unless we also realize these obstacles are the same for us as well, we too will not finish. But there is still hope.
Text: Nehemiah 13
Speaker: Sam Shin
Date: 5/5/19
Sunday May 12, 2019
The Struggle for Contentment
Sunday May 12, 2019
Sunday May 12, 2019
Author Melissa Kruger, describes one of the great challenges of women, which is they place their hope for satisfaction in lesser things that were never created to bear that type of hope. She describes a woman who is standing before an ocean and she is desperately thirsty and takes a big glass of water and she reaches down and wants to pick up that ocean water to drink. And all of us would say no, don’t drink from that. The ocean is a wonderful thing, a beautiful thing. You can swim in it; you can enjoy it, but it was never meant to quench your thirst. So if she drinks from it, she will get thirstier still. And in fact if she keeps drinking of it, she will die.
This is the struggle for contentment. To think that the things of this world will quench your thirst, will sustain you, will make you happy, is a lie. It will only make you more thirsty, less content, and it will destroy you. Philippians 4:10-13 tells us there is a better way. But we must remember there was 1) The Loss of Contentment, 2) The Struggle for Contentment, and then 3) The Hope for Contentment.
Text: Philippians 4:10-13
Speaker: Sam Shin
Date: 5/12/19 (Mother's Day)
Sunday May 19, 2019
The Power of Contentment
Sunday May 19, 2019
Sunday May 19, 2019
Gary Thomas, in his book Authentic Faith, tells the story about the time he went with family to Knott’s Berry Farm:
When we visited Knott's Berry Farm, an amusement park with a frontier theme, there were virtually no lines, and we went easily from major attraction to major attraction, in many cases walking right on. If the kids really enjoyed the ride, they stayed on and rode again.
My then six-year-old daughter Kelsey was having the time of her life. After about three hours, however, I noticed something curious. She jumped off some little cars; she had ridden a train, a log ride, a Ferris wheel, a flying school bus- you name it. Her words, however, revealed a spirit that was getting more hungry, not less: "What's next?" she asked, with a slightly desperate edge to her voice. That's when I realized there's never quite enough excitement to quiet the human heart. We'll never have as much excitement as we want. This has been true from the beginning of time.
Augustine described it this way, “Our hearts are restless until we find our rest in Thee.” We will have a lifelong struggle for contentment with our hearts, a “What’s next” heart that keeps longing and is continually tempted to find satisfaction in everything that never satisfies. In Philippians 4:13, we will look at 1) The Extent of Contentment, 2) The Effect of Contentment, and 3) The Power of Contentment.
Text: Philippians 4:10-13
Speaker: Sam Shin
Date: 5/19/19
Sunday May 26, 2019
Our Great High Priest
Sunday May 26, 2019
Sunday May 26, 2019
Now if perfection had been attainable through the Levitical priesthood (for under it the people received the law), what further need would there have been for another priest to arise after the order of Melchizedek, rather than one named after the order of Aaron? 12 For when there is a change in the priesthood, there is necessarily a change in the law as well. 13 For the one of whom these things are spoken belonged to another tribe, from which no one has ever served at the altar. 14 For it is evident that our Lord was descended from Judah, and in connection with that tribe Moses said nothing about priests.
15 This becomes even more evident when another priest arises in the likeness of Melchizedek, 16 who has become a priest, not on the basis of a legal requirement concerning bodily descent, but by the power of an indestructible life. 17 For it is witnessed of him,
“You are a priest forever,
after the order of Melchizedek.”
18 For on the one hand, a former commandment is set aside because of its weakness and uselessness 19 (for the law made nothing perfect); but on the other hand, a better hope is introduced, through which we draw near to God.
20 And it was not without an oath. For those who formerly became priests were made such without an oath, 21 but this one was made a priest with an oath by the one who said to him:
“The Lord has sworn
and will not change his mind,
‘You are a priest forever.’”
22 This makes Jesus the guarantor of a better covenant.
23 The former priests were many in number, because they were prevented by death from continuing in office, 24 but he holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues forever. 25 Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.
26 For it was indeed fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens. 27 He has no need, like those high priests, to offer sacrifices daily, first for his own sins and then for those of the people, since he did this once for all when he offered up himself. 28 For the law appoints men in their weakness as high priests, but the word of the oath, which came later than the law, appoints a Son who has been made perfect forever.
Text: Hebrews 7:11-28:11
Speaker: Chad Porter
Date: 5/26/19